It is common to house electronic, electrical and/or optical devices in a module with a faceplate. The faceplate has a leading end and a trailing end. One or more internal connectors are disposed on the faceplate for interconnecting with external mating connectors. Cables are attached to these external mating connectors. For instance, the telecommunications industry uses modules of this nature for switching and PBX applications. Copper lines or fibre optic lines from the phone company are connected to the cabinet. Copper cables or fibre optic cables attached to external mating connectors mate with the internal connectors in a mating direction which is generally perpendicular to the faceplate. The cables generally run at right angles to the mating direction and generally run towards the trailing end of the faceplate such that the cables extend over other internal connectors disposed on the faceplate towards the trailing end of the faceplate. The other end of the copper cables or fibre optic cables are typically attached to phones or data equipment.
Typically, inside each cable are numerous smaller cables. Depending on the number of these smaller cables and the thickness of the smaller cables, the cable can be quite thick. If the internal connectors are placed too close to each other on the faceplate, the cables connected to the external complementary connectors can interfere with each other. In addition, more stress can be placed on the connection point or points where the cables are connected to the connectors. The stress may become so high that the cables may break or the connection point or points may break. These problems may even be greater if a number of modules, each with a faceplate are placed closely together in a cabinet.
Typically, modules, each with a faceplate, are placed in a cabinet if one wants the modules to be interconnected to each other. At the other end of the module, opposite the faceplate, there is typically a connector disposed that interconnects with a mating connector inside the cabinet. The mating connectors inside the cabinet are typically connected to each other by means of cables or by means of a common circuit board.
To solve these problems mentioned above, persons skilled in the art have used larger faceplates with sufficient spacing in between the internal connectors. Consequently, the module can become quite large. If a number of these modules are placed in a cabinet, the size of the cabinet can become excessive.